We need Aidan!

The director of Central's China program, Dr. Li Shumin, is visiting Merida this week. Believe it or not, I am serving as her mentor. Dr. Li is in her fourth semester as program director and has a million questions. We agreed the more we do, the more we realize what we do not know. Today is Dr. Li's birthday. I wish Aidan were here to act as our interpreter.

I thought of Pops

I happened to find myself in a bus parking lot behind the main market of Antigua, Guatemala on March 14 which I thought was quite appropriate. Throughout Central America, old school buses are purchased in the US and then driven to Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Needless to say, basic yellow and black are far too boring. Hence the amazing transformation pictured in the second photo. Dad would have loved them.

Lots more photos and stories to share....

Guatemala

I leave on Sunday for a part of Guatemala that I haven't seen before....Panajachel. The trip is a service trip sponsored by Central as an alternative to a wild spring break. (Given that seven former students will be in residence at the Central House this week in search of the wild spring break, it seems appropriate that I am taking off in seach of an alternative.) The group consists of 12 students and two professors from Pella. My goals? Student and faculty recruitment for my program as well as interest in developing a relationship with a site outside of Mexico. I also heard the shopping is fabulous.

We will spend 4 days in a small village outside of Panajachel doing a construction project. Trust me, should I actually touch any kind of tool or building material or even get dirty, you can believe there will be photos. Thankfully, there will also be 3 days of sightseeing. I return to Mérida on Sunday, March 20. Stay tuned...

Foreshadowing?

This shopping cart was parked in front of my house this morning. Does someone know something I don't?

I caved....

Yes, I have returned to my happy golden hues. .I was shocked at how my skin tone/color looked better instantly. My only real solid reason for the re-dye job was because I missed wearing my gold jewelry. This was taken immediately upon leaving the beauty shop. As soon as I got home, I changed my earrings. Ahhhh....such a relief! Now if I could figure out how to fix my lipstick so it always looks decent...

Hands

All of the recent photos were taken during our stay in the Mayan village of Tinum. Shucking corn, as seen above, is one of the usual activities. Posing with the gun while perched on the farmer's hunting stand, is not. This is the first group that expressed interest in climbing the stand and then posing with the gun. Posing only. But it was funny that the vegetarians of the group were the only ones who insisted on holding the gun.

The basket weaving was also a new activity. We traveled about 30 minutes to an even smaller Mayan village, Loop Xul, (pop 50) for this activity. We hadn't gone before because the road to the village was a nightmare. Only one person speaks Spanish; the others only speak Mayan. They farm and earn some money from making baskets. I ordered a few large ones for storage and will post photos when they are finished.

The vegetarians were the first in line.....